Guest Post: 9/11 – A Fourth Turning Perspective

The four turnings comprise a
quaternal social cycle of growth, maturation, entropy, and death (and
rebirth). In a spring like High, a society fortifies and builds and
converges in an era of promise. In a summer like Awakening, it dreams
and plays and exults in an era of euphoria. In an autumnal Unraveling,
it harvests and consumes and diverges in an era of anxiety. In a
hibernal Crisis, it focuses and struggles and sacrifices in an era of
survival. When the saeculum is in motion, therefore, no long human
lifetime can go by without a society confronting its deepest spiritual
and worldly needs. - The Fourth Turning

Nine years after the attack on the World Trade Center the mood of the
country has transformed dramatically. I watched the horror on a TV in a
conference room at work with my colleagues. I remember being in a daze
for a few days after the attack. When it became unambiguous that Osama
bin Laden masterminded the attacks and was being protected by the
Taliban in Afghanistan, I wanted justice. The entire world rallied
around the US. There was worldwide support for the United States’ right
to attack Afghanistan and kill the perpetrators.

In the days immediately following the attacks, there were many
memorials and vigils around the world. In addition, pictures were placed
all over Ground Zero. A witness described being unable to “get away
from faces of innocent victims who were killed. Their pictures are
everywhere, on phone booths, street lights, walls of subway stations.
Everything reminded me of a huge funeral, people quiet and sad, but also
very nice. Before, New York gave me a cold feeling; now people were
reaching out to help each other.”

There was a feeling of unity in the country for a brief shining
moment. If the year had been 2007, rather than 2001, that unity may have
been sustained. Anyone who had read Strauss & Howe’s 1997 book The Fourth Turning was likely
trying to figure out if the 9/11 attacks were the trigger for the
Fourth Turning. But it was too soon. As Strauss & Howe relate in the
book, a turning can be sudden or subtle:

“The gateway to a new turning can be
obvious and dramatic (like the 1929 Stock Crash) or subtle and gradual
(like 1984’s Morning in America). It usually occurs two to five years
after a new generation of children starts being born. The tight link
between turning gateways and generational boundaries enables each
archetype to fill an entire phase-of-life just as the mood of an old
turning grows stale and feels ripe for replacement with something new.”

Unraveling Culture

The Unraveling, which had begun in 1984, had not run its course by
September 11, 2001. Turnings generally last for 20 to 25 years. In 2001,
we were only 17 years into the Unraveling. The mood of the country had
not developed to the point where a consensus could be built to address a
national Crisis. We had been attacked, but our very existence as a
nation had not been threatened. The 9/11 attacks heightened the feeling
of anxiety in the country and put us on the path towards a great Crisis.
Strauss & Howe explained the phases of an Unraveling in the
book:

“An UNRAVELING begins as a
society-wide embrace of the liberating cultural forces set loose by the
Awakening. People have had their fill of spiritual rebirth, moral
protest, and lifestyle experimentation. Content with what they have
become individually, they vigorously assert an ethos of pragmatism,
self-reliance, laissez faire, and national (or sectional or ethnic)
chauvinism.

While personal satisfaction is high,
public trust ebbs amid a fragmenting culture, harsh debates over values,
and weakening civic habits. The sense of guilt (which rewards
principle and individuality) reaches its zenith. As moral debates brew,
the big public arguments are over ends, not means. Decisive public
action becomes very difficult, as community problems are deferred. Wars
are fought with moral fervor but without consensus or follow-through.

Eventually, cynical alienation
hardens into a brooding pessimism. During a High, obliging individuals
serve a purposeful society, and even bad people get harnessed to
socially constructive tasks; during an Unraveling, an obliging society
serves purposeful individuals, and even good people find it hard to
connect with their community. The approaching specter of public
disaster ultimately elicits a mix of paralysis and apathy that would
have been unthinkable half a saeculum earlier. People can now feel, but
collectively can no longer do.” - The Fourth Turning

The Clinton years were divisive and cynical. You knew the country was
adrift, but no one could harness the power of the realm to take on
the impending challenges. The nation divided into Blue states and Red
States. The Moral Majority raged against the Godlessness of the country.
The 2000 Presidential election was an example of a country deeply
divided, fragmented and unable to agree on anything. The election was
essentially a draw, and a partisan Supreme Court picked the winner. It
seemed like the country was divided as never before. But, a student of
history would have recognized the same issues, dilemmas and foul mood in
the 1760s, 1850s and 1920s. Strauss and Howe documented the prior
Unravelings in US history:

“The mood of the current Culture Wars
era seems new to nearly every living American but is not new to
history. Around World War I, America steeped in reform and
fundamentalism amidst a floodtide of crime, alcohol, immigration,
political corruption, and circus trials. The 1850s likewise simmered
with moral righteousness, shortening tempers, and multiplying
“mavericks.” It was a decade, says historian David Donald, in which
“the authority of all government in America was at a low point.”
Entering the 1760s, the colonies felt rejuvenated in spirit but reeled
from violence, mobs, insurrections, and paranoia over the corruption of
official authority.” - The Fourth Turning

The country went to war with a moral fervor, which quickly
dissipated. There was no follow through, as bin Laden was allowed to
escape. The appearance of unity in the country was wiped away with the
invasion of Iraq under false pretenses. Americans became more cynical
after 9/11. Instead of addressing the visible financial catastrophe set
in motion by political promises made decades ago, Americans deluded
themselves with visions of faux wealth created by the Federal Reserve
inflating the largest bubble in history. President Bush did not demand
shared sacrifice after 9/11. He instructed the American people to defeat
the terrorists by leasing a Mercedes SUV; buying a 6,000 sq ft
McMansion with 10 rooms, granite countertops, Jacuzzis, and a home
theater, financed with 0% down; and taking your ultimate dream vacation
in the Caribbean paid for with one of your 10 credit cards.

While Americans binged on credit and ignored the disastrous future
that awaited them with the approaching Fourth Turning, a brooding
pessimism began to blanket the country. A national paralysis overtook
the populace regarding vital issues. The popping of the housing bubble
from 2006 through 2008 revealed massive fraud on the part of Wall Street
bankers; corrupt politicians, bought off by corporations, in Washington
DC; inept bungling regulators; millions of morons wanting to be led
astray; and a Federal Reserve that provided the cheap credit to fuel the
mass delusion. The complete meltdown of the financial system in
September 2008 will be viewed as the catalyst for the current Fourth
Turning. The transition from Unraveling to Crisis has transpired.

Crisis Deepening

“A CRISIS arises in response to
sudden threats that previously would have been ignored or deferred, but
which are now perceived as dire. Great worldly perils boil off the
clutter and complexity of life, leaving behind one simple imperative:
The society must prevail. This requires a solid public consensus,
aggressive institutions, and personal sacrifice.” - The Fourth Turning

The current Crisis is deepening day by day. The ninth anniversary of
9/11 is revealing the dramatic mood change of the country. In the days
following 9/11 there was little anger against the religion of Islam.
President Bush went to a mosque and declared that Islam was a religion
of peace. He said forcefully that anyone who attacked Arab or Muslim
Americans in some kind of twisted attempt at revenge for 9/11 would be
met with the full force of American law. Most right minded Americans
agreed with President Bush. After 9 years of waging wars against
Muslims, in which victory is unachievable, Americans are weary, agitated
and ready to lash out.

Contrast the reaction of Americans after 9/11 with the recent issue
of converting a Burlington Coat factory store into a Muslim community
center two blocks from Ground Zero. The mainstream media has been full
of vitriol and anger regarding an issue that would have gotten no press
in 2002. There have been protests, counter-protests, accusations and
lies spread across the airwaves. The anti-Muslim feeling in the country
is palpable. A nut-job pastor with a flock of 50 people threatens to
burn the Koran and sets off a firestorm across the globe. The reaction
to this inconsequential knucklehead would have been non-existent in
2002. The mood of the country has clearly changed. The anger building
against the ruling elite on Wall Street and in Washington DC is real.
Average Americans feel betrayed by politicians, bankers and corporate
America. The Tea party movement is a reflection of that anger. The
country certainly hasn’t reached a consensus about which direction the
country needs to move, but we are still in the early stages of the
Fourth Turning. A threat to our very existence will reveal itself in the
near future and generate the consensus necessary to meet the threat.

What is beyond a doubt is that the country is facing extreme peril as
it tries to maneuver its way through an economic Depression, a looming
peak oil crisis, unresolved long-term fiscal obligations, and antagonism
from countries throughout the world. The cycles of history do not
reveal the exact nature of the Crisis ahead, but previous Crisis periods
give us a flavor of what to expect. Based on our previous Crises
periods and knowing which national issues have been ignored for decades,
the likely threats to confront the nation over the next decade include:

Continued reduction in the national wealth of Americans as home
prices drop another 20% and the stock market loses another 30% of its
value.

A National Debt approaching $20 trillion within the next 5 years,
potentially resulting in massive interest expense payments and/or a
collapse of the USD.

When the Central Bank experiment in fiat currency fails within the next 5 years, a hyperinflationary depression is likely.

The demographic headwinds of a rapidly aging population combined
with the gutting of industrial America by corporate chieftains insures
that the American economy will be stuck in low gear. The result will be a
steady decline in the American standard of living.

The diminishing supply of cheap, easily accessible oil will
fundamentally change American society. The entire suburban sprawl
existence of America, with 260 million automobiles and food trucked from
1,500 miles to grocery stores will disappear practically overnight.

The wrenching changes which will be required to localize, combined
with the loss of wealth, will likely lead to social chaos, possible
revolt, and the use of U.S. military forces against citizens of the
United States. Geographic fragmentation of the country is a distinct
possibility.

The desperate need for oil will provoke wars for precious resources.
The Middle East is likely to turn into a battlefield. The combatants
are unknown at this point, but China and Russia are likely to be
involved. With the proliferation of nuclear weapons, an escalation could
lead to a catastrophic worldwide conflagration.

Fourth Turnings always sweep away the old order and replace it with a
new order. There is no guarantee that the new order will be better. It
could be far worse. As we honor those who lost their lives on September
11, 2001 we need to brace ourselves for the storm ahead. The clouds are
gathering and the time of great sacrifice is approaching. There are no
guarantees from God that the United States will always prevail. We have
gone far off course this time. I trust we can rise to the challenge.

“History offers no guarantees.
Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging
from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to
high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always
exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken
so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total
ruin. Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something
incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our
national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.” - The Fourth Turning

I respect Quinns work, and his insights are interesting and valuable. But he misses the point when pretending that 911 was somehow an external attack, reflecting the Zeitgeist, or spirit of the times. Anyone who has studied the videos, photography and statements of witnesses in detail begins to suspect that 911 was an inside job. How can elements of the US and foreign governments launching a false flag operation against their own citizens be reflective of a 4th turning? Perhaps Quinn can explain this in a subsequent posting.

Time to remember as little ambulatory flesh packages of a short time expiration, (even black boxes of mingled mischief and valour) that men are CREATED beings. Waddling forth on four legs at infancy, two at powerful middle age, then three in decrepitude (with false staffs?). In evidence of our ignorance of even our own flesh, what man here could name the organs between his neck and knees? Let alone describe adequately their function, alone and in concert, in maintaining his biologic homeostasis and thence affording some sense of contentment or happiness.

Everyman here is a sole entity reaping a reward from a time unremembered and sowing for a future harvest. His experience in the short time-frame of mortality is a consequence of past action while the dreams and yearnings for a future happiness make rudder for his exertions through THIS time. Government and society are the macro-encapsulations of all the combinant strivings of mankind. If this is a fourth turning, and if this is a hivernous period, and if it is to be troubling and turbulent, that is because the bulk of a population darkly deem it so.

Beyond, there are, though, a combination of connivers who seek to direct the historical events of great nations for their selfish advantage. They seek to overcome the nobler qualities of the institutions of a nation and to defy the liberty, the endowed rights of men, and the simple peaceable parts of existence. They deny any power greater than themselves or their fraternity. They seek to slake the desires of their basest whims by making silent depradation of other human derivatives. They hijack the organs of society's body. When once the divine rights of men are denied, when once sacrosanct individual protections of government are sullied, they proceed with the waste and enslavement of their fellows.

Just as most everyman cannot describe nor systemically understand their own internal organs, neither (without great study and long effort) can they understand the organs of heaven and earth that move men and nations, provide for their felicity or downfall, their material and spiritual well-being. Ignorance of these is the very definition of hell. Superb conformance and obedience to these is the Shangri-La, the oasis, the alpha and omega, and the sweet complete fulfillment of individual and social mankind.

It can be enjoyed in all epochs of time conditioned upon the uprightness and lawfulness of its acolytes.

I think you deserve less than 9 junks for your candor alone. Whether we "deserved" it or not is a moot point. The point is, this event was painted to the entire country/world as a strike that began the "war on terror". This is bullshit. This was the beginning of absolutely nothing, it was a continuation of events, exchanges, and interaction between the USA and certain groups in the middle east that have been ongoing for some time.

We have to go back decades to find the "root cause" of 9/11, this is no event in isolation of anything, merely a continuation.The seeds had been planted years ago, we have watered those seeds over time with our involvement in the ME militarily and otherwise, taking sides unconditionally, and meddling in the affairs of other countries.

The events continue to this day on both sides......

RIP to those who perished on AND before 9/11, condolences to the families, let's hope the insanity stops during our lifetime.

This was the beginning of absolutely nothing, it was a continuation of events

It's reassuring to see that others also get the big picture. Many cannot accept the fact that peace is merely an interlude between conflict. War is by far & away the most profitable endeavor upon which mankind can embark. Nothing else even comes close in terms of satisfying both core primeval impulses and the imperative to debilitate rivals.

I always enjoy reading the conspiracy theories regarding 9/11. As if we had the ways, means or even the desire to launch a false flag operation. Here's the biggest fallacy: why take a chance about getting caught? The money isn't in the attack, the payoff is in the response.

It doesn't matter which party is in nominal 'control'; it's all about expanding the balance sheet. Again, the world economy works as a function of debt - more growth, more debt. And nothing, I mean nothing quite expands a balance sheet like the demand for war financing.

Bush was patiently waiting, in fact, probably praying for some kind of attack. I can reassure you that right now at the highest levels of government, what they would really, really like would be a major conflict that destroyed a shit-load of fixed infrastructure. (And perhaps some people, um collateral, as well.)

Smedley Butler laid it out for everyone in the 30s.

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

Once you realize that war is the only possible way out of our deflationary depression, just like it was back then, then it would behoove you to make the appropriate preparations.

....B9K9----"Once you realize that war is the only possible way out of our deflationary depression"...

......"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.".........

Have we not been at war for the last 15 or so years.? This has not stopped the credit bubble unwind that started with the dotcom bust ...

" Bush was patiently waiting, in fact, probably praying for some kind of attack. I can reassure you that right now at the highest levels of government, what they would really, really like would be a major conflict that destroyed a shit-load of fixed infrastructure. (And perhaps some people, um collateral, as well.)".....

And your contact/master/bullshit- from the skull and bones/alex jones/rense.... told you this crap ...?

There was no risk of getting caught. The bandits who perpetrated the false flag own the enforcement apparatus and the media, plus they have the advantage of relying upon bogus story that the masses WANT to believe. No one WANTS to believe that people in their own government would commit such an atrocity.

The objection that "they would not risk getting caught" is extremely weak when you consider the power and arrogance of TPTB. Now consider the objection that buildings have been engulfed in much longer and hotter fires without collapsing, INCLUDING the WTC, yet the WTC didn't just collapse, it did so at free-fall, into its own footprint, in perfect symmetry, and was utterly pulverized. Consider the insider trading at Brown and Root that was never investigated, the collapse of WTC 7 that WAS NOT HIT by a plane. (The first case in history of a plane collapsing spontaneously in perfect symmetry), and the lack of ANY official story of what happened at WTC7. Consider that the Patriot Act was written BEFORE 9-11, that the attack plans for Afghanistan were drawn BEFORE 9-11. Consider the War Games and the pre-emptive arrival of the FEMA response team. Consider that the people in the CIA MOST responsible for sitting on evidence of bin Ladin's plans were PROMOTED.

This is why people who know the facts have less and less patience with the government line-swallowers. There is a MOUNTAIN of proof that the 9-11 attacks were undertaken by a cabal inside the US gov. LOOK at it before casting judgment.

read somewhere that building 7 was where all the files on enron were being stored awaiting doj investigation. also twin towers were slated for demolition but the asbestos made it a money losing proposition. the owner heavily insured them against terrorist attack a couple of months before 9/11.

And then came the day that the powers that be realized they don't have to wage a war to rob the American people blind. They can just take whatever they want without offering any excuse or justification.

ps i EDIT a lot. took out my candor part. but maybe say it again. up to 21 junks now but who is counting.

i thought we deserved it. wake your ass up dumb down americanos.

ME, definitely included.

i was lying in my bed (MST) watching fat fuck mark haines, sayin it was a small private plane. jeeze and he was in close proximity, CNBC set and all.

coming from someone that ate up all the Y2K fear and scare tactics. i also think that was plain and simple fear driven. they pumped beaucoup bucks and fear into the people, over switching into another century. hey, your computer may not work, but apple/mac's will. no shit sherlock. this is how apple was going to take over this sorry ass world. they reprogrammed the OS, to reset. brilliant, you get to go to the head of the class, and get an apple to boot.

you can't handle 2000, bitchez.

people were fumbling over the correct pronunciation of the 21st century. say two thousand or twenty twenty. hell, we should of celebrated. how often do humans get to celebrate a brand new century. especially a 21st century M A N.

The work of Strauss and Howe, Nassim Taleb, Socionomics (Elliott wave), Kondratieff, and other cyclical and fractal oriented analyses are all converging from different starting points. This is the age of contrarianism because conventional wisdom is being turned on its head... not for the first time in history, but for the first time in OUR human experience (Strauss and Howe). No history book can properly relate how we should act... our responses will be endogenous within the collective. We must live and be actors in it, and by the very definition of success (which is limited to the few), most of us will be completely wrong. To understand the Saecular cycle and what is transpiring, one must understand that endogenous social mood (Socionomics) is transforming in a society dwindling in proportional representation by those who experienced the Great Depression and WWII. Additionally, nature has a tendency for alternation (Socionomics, Elliott wave). This will ensure that a thorough understanding of history will be a poor predictor of exactly what will transpire(Taleb's Swans) knowing only that challenges will be faced and resolved in some fashion. The degree of challenge and ultimate resolution (success or failure depending on your particular disposition and objectives for society) will likely be quite large (Socionomics, Elliott wave). History will rhyme (Kondratieff), but it will not repeat(Taleb).

Entropy is always around. It is the lack of enthalpy that makes the entropy seem so immutable. The enthalpy comes in the form of readily available sources of cheap energy (enthalpy). Without it, the world heads to maximum disorder.

Then riddle me this. Why didn't entropy exist for one day? How do you violate a physical law, clearly demonstrated throughout the universe, every where we look. It's why we don't have homogeneous universes, galaxies, or solar systems for that matter. But yet for one day, failed to rear it's head, not once, twice, three, or possibly four times. So, didn't you get the memo? Entropy doesn't exist anymore.

Here's a typical, if less obscene, response from Quinn to a polite comment at his lousy blog... wwwthestinkingpile.com

"Administrator says:

red

It is good that you were able to take time out from the truther sheep fuck convention to develop a sitcom. I hear JFK is on today. You can sit in front of your TV and jerk off to it. Do you have any ideas about detective dads that bring up morons? By the number of thumbs up you received, it appears that the 9/11 truther retards are still onboard. I guess no other sites will have you mongoloids.

The truthers swarmed the site with their bullshit immediately. Anyone who has been on my site for the last two years realizes that if you don’t have facts to back up your argument, I will obliterate you.

I had the facts when Jason Rines pulled the plug on my old site.

I really don’t care who I offend.

Anyone who has been offended can hit the fucking road.

Then all of the truthers I’ve offended today can quit my site. They can discuss gravity, explosives, jet fuel, video clips of the Pentagon, and how to properly fuck a sheep*."

Since you say you were a firefighter, that makes you an intelligent person.

You should really have special insight into the 9/11 towers. You are a bonafide sleuth.

You really have that mystery solved.

Nobody can pull anything over on you. You are too smart to fall for any tricks.

You are a mystery solver. A man with keen analytical skills. —-A fucking inbred, maggot-infested douchebag. You and all of the rest of the duped Truthers eat dog shit."

"Beyond a shadow of a doubt? Amazing that idiots can post such drivel and then are incapable of putting together one paragraph of their own thoughts. Every 9/11 truther is exactly alike. They are only capable of posting links. Not one has ever made a comprehensive case in their own words. They are incapable of independent thought and must rely on “experts” to support their delusional ramblings."

Trying to reason with a truther is like trying to explain that sex with sheep is wrong. Useless."

"I saw your comment on Zero Hedge regarding Jim Quinn. I would advise you as a fellow American to let him continue to hang himself and not waste your own time.

He has his own totalitarian approach that reveals itself over time to the reading audience.

We can't stop each wannabe dictator wrapping himself/herself around the flag of what the United States once stood for.

He will continue to tell those seeking truth that they are a moron.

Whether I am right or you are right, we are at least attempting to get at the truth.

The government still nine years later cannot answer for why our tax dollars were wasted on intelligence and security apparatus into the trillions that do not protect us from what we pay into it when 3,000 American are murdered.

Any asshole that say 911 was done by 19 razer totin' towel heads needs to be drawn and quartered for being a traitor as apparently this bloke seems to be their Captain Beef Heart. Sorry but u got any rum matey? Parrot food would be handy too?

"Smokey and Jim are the same people, yes. I mapped both the I.P.'s back to his office at Wharton.

As for having fun, well... TBP is a place where if you want to be abused and argue with someone with only academic experience then go for it.

As for me, I moved on.

3,000 of my countrymen are dead, they were not enemy combatants. Radical Islam was used as usual as the convenient manipulated fools they are. They like blood money and Islam gives these individuals the convenient excuse for murder-for-hire. No different than the 1880's in Russia and the 1930's in Germany.

I want as close to the truth as we can all get and we are only partially there.

I cannot waste time on the wannabe dictators while my dead countrymen have not received justice.

Justice will be served when I feel the rest of my countrymen are safe and that also is a long ways away. We will probably be old men by the time we feel we know enough truth to say we concluded our own investigation and many of the perpetrators dead of old age, war or both.

LLPOH—–There is another blog, Zero Hedge. I think they have about 25k members. Zero Hedge posts guest articles from hundreds of sources on his site. Quinn is one of his favorite guest authors because people love to read and comment on Quinn’s articles. They generate much traffic for ZH. There is an article over there now “9/11—-A Fourth Turning Perspective” of Quinn’s from this site that has over 200 comments so far this weekend. THAT’S where many of the 9/11 loonies came from this weekend. They read the article over there and came over here. I haven’t seen SSS all weekend, although Stuck was on our side this weekend against the loonies. I’m getting ready to crash for tonight, but I’ll be back to start some shit with someone tomorrow. Later.

The stupid idiots burning Korans were nothing more than a distraction, designed to draw attention away from the fraudulent Myth of 911, that 19 A-rabs with box cutters somehow defeated the worlds most sophisticated air defence system. As a former Soviet Air Force General once stated, we have studied American air defences for decades, and what happened on 911 was not possible. Maybe, some day, we will figure out how WTC building number 7 fell without being hit by a plane. A good place to start is to read the conclusions of Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth.

If you are interested in the 911 Myth, just wait, Internet Tough Guy of the Megaphone crowd, and the neocon trolls will be showing up shortly to earn their pay.